The latest, albeit not really, shocker announcement from developer Gearbox Software is that Duke Nukem Forever will be postponed yet again.
The game release date has now been revised from the existing May 6 to June 10.
While it may be customary to have a kneejerk reaction and spew invective at the developers for the delay, this time it's different. After fourteen years of development hell, a delay of a month isn't so bad, mainly because earlier instances had a headless, directionless developer (3D Realms) undecided on basics like the very game engine. However, Gearbox software has all the basics in place, and all the gameplay demonstrations amply showcase that the game is ready and undergoing final stages of polish.
The official Xbox magazine has done some in-depth coverage on Duke Nukem Forever's multiplayer component and the good people at Duke4.net have uploaded the scans to the same. However, the Australian classification board may be kicking itself, especially since one of the four multiplayer modes includes a misogynistic take on the capture the flag mode.
Dubbed Capture the Babe, the multiplayer mode involves Dukes capturing the other Dukes' babes. Being babes, they tend to freak out, and that can be rectified with a slap to their buttocks according to the magazine.
Although it may get the feminists all riled up, this is certainly not the least of Duke's controversial (read: awesome) themes. You already know the extent of nudity, sexual themes, profanity and pure irreverent anarchy running through the game.
However, those who have played the original Duke Nukem 3D, should know why the irreverence is not just gratuitous, but actually essential to recreate the ballsy, political incorrectness of the times when games were made by geeks operating through basements and not corporate puppets who're used to sacrifice creativity at the altar of mass market sanitisation.
Controversies aside, here is what you should expect from Duke Nukem Forever's multiplayer mode:
* 4 gameplay modes: Dukematch, Team Dukematch, Capture the Babe and Hail to the King (King of the Hill mode). Dukes on other teams will have either red or blue shirts.
* 8 player max, 4 vs 4 teams only
* In 'Capture the Babe' when you grab the other teams babe sometimes she'll start to freak out as you take her back to your base, so you have to give her a gentle smack to quiet her down
* 10 maps at launch, maps include; remade Dukeburger where all Dukes are miniatures running around a giant world, 'Morning Wood' old west town, Vegas Casinos, etc.
* Jetpack only shows up in some multiplayer maps, isn't in single player
* Holoduke will be just like Duke 3D, but this time around the player becomes cloaked, allowing for sneak melee kills
* Steriods allow Duke to do one hit kill punches, also allows for faster run speeds, cannot use weapons, not sure if their immune to Shrinker anymore like in Duke 3D.
* When shrunk by the Shrinker, the mini-Duke can still use weapons, but they only do 10 percent of the normal damage
* You can plant trip bombs on players and enemies
* Confirmed weapons; pistol, shotgun, ripper chaingun, pipebomb, rpg, shrinker, railgun, freezer, devestator, tripbomb. Can only use 2 primary weapons at once along with pipebombs and tripbombs.
* As you kill other players you gain experience points, which, when acquiring enough of them, you can spend the points on customizing your Duke. Basic kills get basic points, but specialty one time achievement kills like killing someone when using the holoduke or funny kills like killing yourself with the pipebomb by accident, gives you bonus points.